areas around the Idinthakarai protest site and the Koodankulam Nuclear
Power Plant. The decision to give the go-ahead to the power plant is
ill-informed and has created a dangerously volatile situation. We, the

below-signed, condemn the deployment of thousands of armed policemen

in an area where people have been peacefully protesting for six
months. Knowing the resolve of the agitating communities, the
Government’s hard-line stance and police posturing can only lead to a
nuclear Nandigram.

The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s claim that the Expert Committees have

addressed all concerns raised by the protestors is contrary to fact.
Numerous issues such as the lack of back-up water supply, the fate of
the desalination plants in the event of seawater recession, the
quantum and fate of nuclear wastes and the sub-lethal effects of
thermal pollution on marine biodiversity are only a few of the issues
that remain wholly unaddressed by the Committees. Information relating
to the arrangements made between the Governments of India and Russia
relating to liability in the event of a nuclear disaster have been
withheld.Commissioning the plant at this stage without having conducted the
statutorily required emergency drills is a clear indication of the
lack of safety culture, and the insincerity of the declarations that
the plant is safe.

It is unfortunate that the Government is making it seem as if
commissioning Koodankulam will bail the state out of its electricity
crisis. it is a fact that if at all commissioned, the 1000 MW plant is
unlikely to yield more than 250 MW.

By okaying the nuclear power plant, the Tamil Nadu Government has lost

an important opportunity to take the state on a path of environmental
sustainability and social justice.We are very concerned for the safety and well-being of our brothers
and sisters in Idinthakarai, and expect that the Government of
Tamilnadu will not use force and strength to push the project down the
throats of unwilling communities.